“To achieve the Pulitzer Prize in one’s lifetime is no small feat. For Michael Ramirez to earn two Pulitzers puts his editorial cartoons and analyses in a league of their own. In the following pages of Everyone Has the Right to My Opinion, it’s immediately evident why Michael’s legacy will be as one of the greatest editorial cartoonists of our time. We’re proud to provide the platform for Michael’s great work in the pages of Investor’s Business Daily.”

—�William�J.�O’Neil�Chairman�and�Founder,�Investor’s Business Daily�and�Investors.com

“Who said you can’t be conservative and funny at the same time? I found myself laughing and nodding my head. Michael Ramirez, one of America’s great political cartoonists, packs a real wallop.”

—�Robert�D.�Novak�Nationally�syndicated�columnist

“Mike Ramirez’s pen is a weapon of mass destruction: lethal, explosive, and always on target. From Hollywood to Washington to Iran, no blowhard is safe. No sacred cow is immune. A picture may be worth 1,000 words. This collection of Ramirez’s finest work: Priceless.”

—�Michelle�Malkin�Author�of�Unhinged: Exposing Liberals Gone Wild�Fox�News�contributor

“Michael Ramirez’s cartoons brilliantly expose the results of centralized tyranny and ignorance.”

—�Walter�E.�Williams�Professor�of�Economics,�George�Mason�University,��and�nationally�syndicated�columnist

“Michael Ramirez is very, very funny. You may not agree with him — I usually don’t — but I dare you not to laugh!”

—�Susan�Estrich��Professor�of�Law�and�Political�Science,�USC�Gould�School�of�Law�Fox�News�Analyst

“Insightful, impactful, frighteningly beautiful, and often hilarious political commentary on our world. Ramirez’s editorial cartoons would always be funny if the punchline weren’t so often very sad.”

—Arthur�B.�Laffer

“One Michael Ramirez cartoon is worth far more than a thousand edito-rials. Heaven help the publicly pompous, fraudulent or incompetent butts of his brilliant, wickedly witty pen. Ramirez is an unsparingly perceptive, accurate and funny ethicist. His hilarious cartoons are heat-seeking mis-siles. Not even the most artful political dodgers can escape.”

—�Pete�Wilson��Governor�of�California,�1991–1999

More Praise for�everyone has the right to my opinion

“Michael Ramirez gives new meaning to the phrase “drawn and quartered.” Rather than be depicted in a Ramirez cartoon, most politicians would choose to be chopped into fourths and disemboweled. (They don’t have a lot of guts anyway.) Being literally drawn and quartered means pols could run for office in four different electoral districts at once. Being drawn by Ramirez means they’re really done for.”

—�P.J.�O’Rourke�Journalist,�Author

“Two Pulitzer prizes don’t begin to describe Michael Ramirez’s talent for portraying the essence of an idea in a single image. In his case, one picture is worth a thousand Pulitzers. He is a national treasure, and this anthology of his work is our way to share in it.”—�Christopher�Cox�

Chairman�of�the�United�States�Securities�and�Exchange�Commission

“Michael’s incredible talent is demonstrated by his consistent ability to capture the moment in a historic perspective.”

—�Don�Sundquist�Governor�of�Tennessee,�1995–2003

everyone has the to my opinion

everyone has the

to my opinion

michael ramirez

Foreword by Dr.Wil l iam J. Bennet t

John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Copyright © 2008 by Michael Ramirez. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.Published simultaneously in Canada.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

For general information on our other products and services or for technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at (800) 762-2974, outside the United States at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002.

Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. For more information about Wiley products, visit our web site at www.wiley.com.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:Ramirez, Michael. Everyone has the right to my opinion: Investor’s Business Daily’s Pulitzer prize-winning cartoonist/Michael Ramirez. p. cm. Includes index. 1. American wit and humor, Pictorial. 2. Editorial cartoons—United States. I. Title. NC1429.R28A4 2008 741.5'6973—dc22 2008033886ISBN 978-0-470-40677-9

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To my parents, Fumiko and I. Edward Ramirez, to the entire Ramirez family, to

Deborah McNeely, and to our valiant troops around the world whose courage

and sacrifice secure our freedom and liberty.

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

—Aristotle

~xi~

Foreword by dr. william J. Bennett xiii

Acknowledgments xv

IntroductIon xvii

the 2008 Pulitzer collection 1

moral Values 23

Hollywood 35

domestic Affairs 51

economics 89

Politics 115

elections 139

world Affairs 163

the middle east 189

september 11 201

war 217

the 1994 Pulitzer collection 239

BAckword by stan Freberg 257

Contents

~xiii~

Politics is among the most noble of human activities, but we are at risk of forgetting that today. Too many people have embraced a view that is best described as cynical: They assume that poli-tics consists of nothing but greedy grabs for power, power being the end, politics the means. So long as men are not angels, there always will be selfish and dishonest politicians, to be sure. But politics also offers a stage for great acts of human excellence. Politics illuminates courage, moderation, prudence, and justice. It is where magnanimity shines most brightly. Why else would the great William Shakespeare choose political settings for his great-est plays?

An exercise in ruling and being ruled in turn, politics hap-pens when men and women deliberate, debate, and sometimes fight about who is going to rule, who is going to get ruled, and what kind of rule will be enforced and obeyed. Politics, in other words, is made possible by and cultivates logos, the Greek word that means both articulate speech and reason. At its core, politics is the human activity: men and women coming together to think, speak, articulate, and improve their under-standing of the true, the good, and the just, as they attempt to enshrine these qualities into the public laws.

Some might find the following suggestion controversial, but I assume readers enjoy a taste of controversy lest they would

not have in their hands this book, which is filled with contro-versy: In order to live life to its fullest capacity, human beings must be self-governing; the problem is that self-government is a rare and therefore precious phenomenon in human history. Most human beings throughout most of history have not partic-ipated in their own political rule; instead, they have been lorded over without their consent, forced to live a kind of life not of their choosing. They were deprived of the opportunity to lead and enjoy a fuller life, the life of a self-governing human being.

We Americans are blessed to find ourselves as the ben-eficiaries of the greatest experiment in self-government, what Abraham Lincoln called “the last best hope of earth.” But let us not be naive. It is nowhere foreordained that American self-government and freedom will survive forever. Even the Founders were unsure of that.

Enter the world of editorial cartooning. The editorial car-toon stands alone as the most succinct of all forms of politics. Within only several square inches on a piece of paper, a good editorial cartoon, sometimes without including one word, is like a jolt of adrenaline through the veins of a political peo-ple. By their very nature, editorial cartoons stir controversy, spark debate and discussion, and move minds to think thoughts not thought before. The art of the editorial cartoon has been

Foreword

~xiv~

transformed over centuries, and perfected in certain ways, but it remains a political art just as it was at the time of our nation’s founding.

Those cartoons, then, and the best of them today, encour-age people to be feisty and to think for themselves, which is why so many of us take to, enjoy, and circulate editorial cartoons. Newspaper-reading Americans consistently rank the editorial car-toon as their favorite part of the newspaper. That is good news. It means the political spirit of freedom is still alive in America.

Enter Michael Ramirez. If the editorial cartoon stands as the most succinct of all political art forms, then Michael Ramirez stands as the master artist. Previously at the Los Angeles Times and now at Investor’s Business Daily, Michael has taken the art of editorial cartooning to heights not seen before. The Pulitzer Prize committee agreed not once, but twice. His drawings are sometimes sad, sometimes uplifting, but often just downright funny, and they always are provocative. It is not his pencil, however, that makes Michael special, or maybe even dangerous—it is the genius that moves his pencil.

When one studies Michael’s cartoons, one is watching a rare combination of artful genius, intellect, and imagina-tion moving together in harmony from mind to hand to paper,

allowing others to enter the world of Michael Ramirez and wrestle with the same problems and questions with which he is wrestling. Studying Michael’s cartoons is an intensely public and political exercise, and thus a good thing for the country.

Michael Ramirez is among the foremost artists and most astute political commentators of our time. He is a patriot as well. He cannot hide his love for this wonderful country because of what he is: a political man who uses his extraordinary gift to promote reflection, debate, and discussion about the most important questions we face as a nation. He is a political man who draws car-toons, and he uses those cartoons to help us become more political. He is, in his unique way, recovering the political con-ditions necessary for self-government. He is helping us to live the fully human lives we are capable of living. He is a national treasure, and his country should thank him. I know I do.

—Dr. William J. Bennett

~xv~

A first book is an exciting but enormous undertaking. Many people encouraged me and helped me to put this book together. I thank my mother and father, who have been supportive of me in all my endeavors. I have been blessed with the best par-ents and the best family in the world: my brother Ed, his wife Jane, and their daughter Julia; my sister Victoria, her husband Denley, and their brand-new daughter Alexandra; my brother Alexander, his wife Lori, and their daughters Ke’ea and Ellie; my sister Liz, her husband Bryan, their son Bryson, their daugh-ter Amelie, and Bryan’s brother Hannibal. I thank my girlfriend Deborah for her sage advice, her wisdom and hard work, and her infinite patience (especially her infinite patience).

There were so many people who were generous with their time and made significant contributions to the book. Among them: George Will, Rush Limbaugh, Robert Novak, Bill O’Reilly, Governor Mike Huckabee, Larry Kudlow, Michelle Malkin, Susan Estrich, P.J. O’Rourke, Walter Williams, Art Laffer, Grover Norquist, and my dear friends, Governor Pete Wilson, Governor Don Sundquist, and Ann Coulter.

I would like to thank Dr. William J. Bennett for his gener-osity of time and for being my hero.

I thank the friends without whom I could not have fin-ished this project so quickly: my friend Ray Gonzales, who

has been talking politics with me every Tuesday for over 20 years; my friend Mark Joseph, who is my spiritual ally; and my dear friends, Stan and Hunter Freeberg, who are part of my extended family. Stan is a national treasure and a satirical gen-ius, and Hunter is his equal. I thank Chip Saltsman and Paul and Angie Shanklin for their friendship and for always trying to give me bad ideas for cartoons. I thank Duane Doherty and Linda Breakstone for their moral support.

I would also like to thank my friends Claremont President Brian Kennedy and Tom Karako, and acknowledge all my com-rades at the Claremont Institute. I thank my dear friend Tom Krannawitter for his profundity and prose, and for being my ace reliever in the clutch.

I would like to thank my good friend SEC Chairman Christopher Cox for all of his encouragement through the years.

Special thanks to William J. O’Neil for being a true visionary in the newspaper industry, who is going against the national trend and investing in his paper, expanding its con-tent and hiring the best and the brightest. It is what makes Investor’s Business Daily unique and its editorial page the best in the country.

I want to thank my good friend Kathleen Sherman for her insight and advice and for making this book possible. I want

Acknowledgments

~xvi~

to thank IBD editor Wes Mann, and my colleagues Terry Jones, Kerry Jackson, Monica Showalter, Tom McArdle, Matt Galgani, along with the rest of the staff at Investor’s Business Daily. You are so bright, and I am proud to be part of the team at IBD.

I want to thank Rick Newcombe for his friendship, his counsel, and all his help. I look forward to my new relation-ship with Creators Syndicate.

No journalist can have an impact without having his work distributed to the world. I thank Glenda Winders for her friendship and support. I want to thank my colleagues at Copley News Service for all of their hard work over the

years, ensuring that I receive hate mail from the farthest recesses of the world.

I would like to acknowledge my friends and former col-leagues at the Los Angeles Times, the Memphis Commercial Appeal, and USA Today.

Thanks to my editor, Pamela Van Giessen, and her assist-ant, Kate Wood, at John Wiley & Sons for finally forcing me to put it all in a book and making it appear that I am far more literate than I really am.

I thank God for all the blessings in my life.And last but not least, I want to thank all the politicians. I

couldn’t have done it without you.

~xvii~

It’s a calm morning; a rectangle of light shimmers from the dawn through the window and across my drawing board. The newspapers have been read, the blogs scanned, and the televi-sion is reverberating with the latest news. It’s an election year and the rhetorical winds of change are blowing again, and my pen is poised and ready to attack. And I’m stuck here writ-ing an Introduction to my book instead of leaping into the political fray.

I’m an editorial cartoonist. I’m not a writer. If I could write I would be a columnist.

My publisher wanted me to recount stories like the time I won my first Pulitzer Prize and I was greeted at the awards ceremony at Columbia University by an enormous protest. Several protestors approached our car. I realized they had no idea what I looked like when they handed me a flyer protesting myself. So I joined the picket line. I may be the only Pulitzer Prize winner who has protested himself.

Or the time I was investigated by the Secret Service over one of my cartoons.

Or the time I was in Havana interviewing the Minister of Information. He refused to answer questions about imprisoned journalists, censorship, the Brothers in Arms flight that was

shot down in international airspace, or the tugboat full of Cuban refugees that was capsized outside of Havana Harbor, drowning most of its occupants.

I brought up the elaborate political process Cuban journal-ists had to go through to get into print. I brought up the fact Cuban editorial cartoonists could not draw cartoons of Fidel or Che Guevara. I told him that in the United States we believe a country that cannot make fun of its leaders is usually a country imprisoned by its leaders. I asked him one last question, the camera zooming in on his face: “What is your favorite Fidel Castro joke?” His face went ashen. He was speechless. And I got my answer.

It was the same answer William M. Tweed and Tammany Hall gave 120 years earlier in reaction to Thomas Nast’s car-toons. Boss Tweed was a little more vociferous in his condem-nation, “Stop them damn pictures. I don’t care so much what the papers say about me. My constituents don’t know how to read, but they can’t help seeing them damned pictures!” It was clear the Castro regime recognized the power of the pen.

Confucius believed only the virtuous should exercise power. Aristotle argued that only by participating in politics can one truly live an ethical life. Machiavelli altered that thinking. He

Introduction

~xviii~

believed the stable state was more important than virtue. John Locke believed that man had certain “natural rights.” Rousseau believed man was free but subject to volonté générale or the general will. But what defines the general will? And what instru-ment of governance would determine the general will?

In the Declaration of Independence Thomas Jefferson wrote, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with cer-tain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” But while these rights are indeed endowed by a creator and guaranteed by our Constitution, it is government that upholds these liberties and it is men who con-stitute the government.

There are those who believe the Constitution is merely a starting point for negotiation. James Madison wrote, “I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.”

Editorial cartoons are a check to the erosion of our liber-ties and a first line of defense against the advance of the unre-strained power of government. One good editorial cartoon can have a significant impact on the political dialogue of the day. If

done well, it can influence those who govern to govern respon-sibly, and expose them when they do not.

Albert Einstein once said, “Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the uni-verse.” Einstein was right. It is this axiom that makes political cartooning important. The people who ultimately govern will make mistakes. They are human, after all. But history has dem-onstrated that power can turn leaders into monsters. Editorial cartoonists will gladly point out the shortcomings of the pow-erful in an effort to keep them human.

And while it is quite remarkable that cartoons can have such an impact, it is equally remarkable and shortsighted that newspapers, in their infinite wisdom, are relinquishing this influ-ence and abandoning the position of editorial cartoonist. H.L. Mencken once said, “Give me a good cartoonist and I can throw out half the editorial staff.” Poll after poll has demonstrated that, for the people who read the editorial page, the editorial cartoon continues to be the most popular feature on the page.

Part of the damage is self-inflicted. Where the modern trend in editorial cartooning has been to make simple jokes about current affairs, humor without a substantive statement diminishes the importance of the editorial cartoon. Editorial

~xix~

cartoonists who don’t take their jobs seriously should not expect to be taken seriously.

An editorial cartoon is not just a funny picture. An editorial cartoon is a fine instrument of journalism. At times it is sharp and refined, its message cutting quickly to the point; at times, blunt, with its dark imagery seizing the readers’ attention.

As with any editorial, the cartoon has a point. It tells a story. It defines an issue. It challenges hypocrisy. It reveals the best and the worst of humanity. It calls the reader to arms against the complacent, the lethargic, the evildoers, the indo-lent body politic, and the champions of the status quo. It exposes the assorted predators of society.

An editorial cartoon is not humorous for the sake of humor. It is not controversial for the sake of controversy. It is neither conservative nor liberal. Whether you agree with

it philosophically or not, a good editorial cartoon engages the reader in debate. It informs and challenges. It draws the reader into the democratic process.

This book is a compilation of over 20 years of editorial cartooning. You can literally follow history as it weaves its way through my cartoons from the black-and-white era of the early years at the Memphis Commercial Appeal and USA Today and the Los Angeles Times to the full-color pages of Investor’s Business Daily.

Some of my cartoons may make you laugh. Some of my cartoons will make you cringe. But all of them, I hope, will make you think. As you view my editorial cartoons, I hope you can see the messages intricately woven into each design, always revealing a strong point of view.

But enough of this; in short, it’s a book about pictures.

Everyone Has the to My Opinion

~�~

The 2008 Pulitzer Collection

One of the great things about books is sometimes there are some fantastic pictures.

—George W. Bush

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Moral Values

If it were not for the reporters, I would tell you the truth.

—Chester A. Arthur

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Hollywood

You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.

—Abraham Lincoln

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Domestic Affairs

A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.

—Gerald R. Ford

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Bird Flu

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Economics

The business of America is business.

—Calvin Coolidge

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Politics

Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.

—George Washington

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Elections

Nothing brings out the lower traits of human nature like office seeking.

—Rutherford B. Hayes

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World Affairs

We are a nation that has a government—not the other way around. And that makes us special among the nations of the earth.

—Ronald Wilson Reagan

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The Middle East

If civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships—the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together, in the same world at peace.

—Franklin D. Roosevelt

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September 11

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.

—Thomas Jefferson

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War

I never saw a pessimistic general win a battle.

—Dwight D. Eisenhower

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The 1994 Pulitzer Collection

It depends on what the meaning of the word “is” is.

—William Jefferson Clinton

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Humor is the only test of gravity, and gravity of humor; for a subject which will not bear raillery is suspicious, and a jest which will not bear serious examination is false wit.

—Aristotle

~259~

My friend Michael Ramirez is one of a kind. As a man who knows a thing or two about satire, I can recognize a great sati-rist when I see one, and Michael Ramirez is among the best. When I met Michael a number of years ago in Hawaii, where we were both giving keynote speeches, I was honored to finally meet the man I had admired for so long. My wife, Hunter, and I have started our morning for years by opening the paper to the brilliance of our friend Michael Ramirez. It has always made our day.

Not only is Michael a great satirist and social commenta-tor, he is a first-class pen-and-ink artist—a combination rarely found in editorial cartoonists. As you flipped through these pages, I hope you took the time to look at the art in addition to the commentary of the cartoons. Think of the artistry in the Winston Churchill/Harry Reid cartoon that features a detailed portrait of Churchill from his gold watch chain and his polka-dot bow tie to his timeworn face. It’s a virtual photograph, although it isn’t a photograph—it’s a Michael Ramirez per-fectly etched reproduction. In the cartoon, Churchill is utter-ing his famous World War II speech to the citizens of Great Britain facing Hitler in their darkest hour. “We shall fight on the beaches. We shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the fields and in the streets. We shall never surrender.”

Next to Churchill, the liberal Nevada Senator Harry Reid shouts: “Run away!” Whatever your politics, the depiction of Churchill exhorting England to have the courage to stand firm juxtaposed to a wimpy Harry Reid saying, more or less, “Run for the exits!” is an exquisite piece of satire. The art is beauti-ful; the commentary, pointed.

It is no accident that Ramirez is a two-time Pulitzer Prize–winning editorial cartoonist. His work for Investor’s Business Daily has been so outstanding it is challenging to pick a favorite. They are all sharp—sometimes wickedly so and sometimes heartbreakingly so. One imagines that “The Anchor” (the huge anchor marked “Couric” pulling on a chain connected to a Titanic-like CBS ship) was not terribly appreciated by Katie Couric or CBS chief Leslie Moonves. But the rest of us laughed. Devilishly sharp.

On the flip side, the cartoon of a starving third world child holding an empty plate in one hand and a skimpy ear of corn in the other, and a man in a business suit pulling the corn out of the child’s hand while saying, “Excuse me, I’m going to need this to run my car” is beyond poignant at capturing the horrors of ethanol. Our so-called energy policy has real rami-fications. Ramirez takes no prisoners in his criticism. That car-toon should make us all embarrassed and ashamed.

Backword

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Ramirez mixes art and absurdity on a daily basis. One of my other favorite cartoons shows a beautifully drawn U.S. Capitol. The voice caption reads: “For the last time, if you don’t tell us where you planted the nuclear device, we’ll have no choice but to appoint a lawyer for you.” Behind the Capitol, near the Washington Monument, a giant mushroom cloud rises in the sky. Brilliant satire.

Michael always calls things the way he sees them with-out regard to who might be offended. That’s the way I have always operated, too. When I wrote and recorded “Green Chri$tma$,” an assault on the overcommercialization of Christmas, a number of years back, big business was not pleased. Madison Avenue attacked me, and even the execu-tives at Capitol Records had their doubts. I have often said, “My records are not released—they escape.” Thank God we have Michael Ramirez, whose magnificent work “escapes”

into newspapers and online, so that the whole world can laugh at the genius of a man who is likely well on his way to his third Pulitzer. The bad news for us is that politicians and government will continue to do incredibly stupid things; the good news for Michael is that he will no doubt find great material to work with in the years to come. We can all take some comfort in having Michael Ramirez around to skewer the idiocy, ignorance, tyranny, and absurdities of our world.

—Stan FrebergLos Angeles, California

“One of the greatest editorial cartoonists of our time.” —William J. O’Neil

EVERYONE HAS THETO MY OPINION

MICHAEL RAMIREZInvestor’s Business Daily Pulitzer Prize–Winning Editorial Cartoonist

Foreword by DR. WILLIAM J. BENNETT

RA

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ION

An editorial cartoon is not just a funny picture, says two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Ramirez. It is a powerful instrument of journalism, sometimes sharp and refi ned, its message cutting quickly to the point, and at other times, blunt and overpowering, seizing the readers’ attention with its dark imagery.

In Everyone Has the Right to My Opinion, Michael Ramirez, the internationally known editorial cartoonist for Investor’s Business Daily who has been making headlines and stirring up controversy since 1983, offers a comprehensive collection of his award-winning cartoons, accompanied by an introduction to the images highlighted throughout the book. Each cartoon shows that a picture is worth a thousand words and transforms the news of the day into eye-catching, provocative, and hilarious images that draw people into the democratic process.

In a world of textual information, Ramirez com-bines an encyclopedic knowledge of the news with a captivating drawing style to create consistently outstanding and highly incisive satirical cartoons. His commentary on everything from the econ-omy and markets to politics and international affairs offers a unique perspective on today’s issues, particularly during presidential election years. They take a humorously insightful look at the world around us, making readers laugh while informing them on the issues of our times.

Some of these cartoons may make you laugh. Some will make you cringe. But all of them will make you think. Throughout Everyone Has the Right to My Opinion, Ramirez’s artistic skill, biting humor, and penetrating analysis shine through and shed light on what’s really going on in our world today.

“Ramirez lances the Left with the best weapon of all. Humor. As Ronald Reagan said, ‘Just laugh at them.’ Mike is second only to me in showing how it’s done.”’

—Rush Limbaugh, radio host

“Michael Ramirez says more in one cartoon than most talking heads say in a full day. Plus, Ramirez is hilarious.”—Bill O’Reilly, anchor, Fox News Channel

“The quickest way to end all debate with liberals is to pull out a cartoon by Michael Ramirez. Michael has an uncanny ability to cut through all the spin and expose the truth in a single, often hilarious, picture.”

—Sean Hannity, anchor, Fox News Channel

“In today’s political environment where liberals hide behind the label of ‘progressive’ and moderates pose as ‘conservatives,’ Michael Ramirez strips them of their disguises. His powerful points of view are conveyed in an incomparable illustrative style. No other editorial cartoonist today can match the majesty and wit of Michael Ramirez’s cartoons. With his razor-sharp eye and potent pen, Ramirez takes no prisoners. Liberals, bureaucrats, and imposters beware.”

—Ann Coulter, six-time New York Times bestselling author

“As a columnist who works with words, I strongly reject the familiar axiom that a picture is worth a thousand words. Unless, of course, they are the marvelous pictures that Michael Ramirez draws. They are sometimes worth a thousand columns. And—this really is unfair—he gets to add his always well-chosen words to his pictures. See, for example, page 26, where a public school offi cial lays down the law to a clergyman: ‘You can’t say prayers during graduation ceremonies. But if you print them on condoms, we would be happy to distribute them.’ What fun.”

—George F. Will, nationally syndicated columnist

“Editorial cartoonists are able to convey in a simple, yet vivid and powerful message what the columnist often needs 1,000 words to do. The best cartoons—funny or sobering and serious—are like an unexpected punch to the gut. The brilliance of a great editorial cartoon is its simplicity in carrying great substance. If editorial cartooning were baseball, Michael Ramirez would be Babe Ruth. If you like really cutting-edge political humor and want to laugh and cry at the foibles of America’s political fi gures, this book is for you.”

—Mike Huckabee, Governor of Arkansas, 1996–2007, GOP Presidential Candidate 2008

“I’m a longtime Investor’s Business Daily reader, so I know and appreciate Michael’s work fi rsthand. While some editorial cartoonists focus on the punch line and forget the point, Michael seamlessly mixes humor with hard-hitting journalism. His two Pulitzers are well deserved.”

—Larry Kudlow, host, CNBC’s Kudlow & Company

$34.95 USA / $37.95 CAN

MICHAEL RAMIREZ is a senior editor and the editorial cartoonist for Investor’s Business Daily’s editorial page, “Issues & Insights.” He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning in 1994 and again in 2008. Ramirez is a Lincoln Fellow and has won almost every major journalism award throughout his career, including the Sigma Delta Chi Award in 1995, 1997, and 2007,the National Journalism Award in 2006, and the H.L. Mencken Award for Best Cartoon in 1996. He is an honorary member of Pi Sigma Alpha National Political Science Honor Society and is the recipient of the prestigious UCI Medal from the University of California, Irvine, and is a highly acclaimed international speaker. He has been the editorial cartoonist of the Los Angeles Times, the Commercial Appeal, and USA Today, and is nationally syndicated in over 450 newspapers around the world.

Jacket Design and Illustration: Michael RamirezAuthor Photograph: Morgan Patrick Photography

EVERYONE HAS THETO MY OPINION

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